The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

It is the summer of 1950 and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd: A Flavia de Luce Novel, Book 8

In spite of being ejected from Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Canada, 12-year-old Flavia de Luce is excited to be sailing home to England. But instead of a joyous homecoming, she is greeted on the docks with unfortunate news: Her father has fallen ill, and a hospital visit will have to wait while he rests. But with Flavia's blasted sisters and insufferable cousin underfoot, Buckshaw now seems both too empty - and not empty enough.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

There's a murderer on the loose - but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner.

Crowned and Dangerous

Nothing is simple when you're 35th in line for the British crown, least of all marriage. But with love on their side and plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau, Darcy O'Mara, hope to bypass a few royal rules....

Strangeways to Oldham: The Belchester Chronicles, Book 1

Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of her upper-class breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. On a visit to a local nursing home, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump - and stumbles upon a murder. The pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector, who treats her as a silly old biddy with an overactive imagination.

A Quiet Life in the Country: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 1

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

The Winds of Change: Richard Jury, Book 19

As he leans over the body of an unidentified five-year-old girl shot in the back on a shabby London street, Superintendent Richard Jury knows he'll be facing one of the saddest investigations of his life. His colleague DI Johnny Blakeley, head of the pedophile unit of NSY, thinks he knows where this child came from - an iniquitous house on that same street, owned by well-known financier Viktor Baumann and fronted by a woman named Murchison. Blakeley has been trying to wreck their operation for a long time.

A Great Reckoning: A Novel

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

In the Market for Murder: Lady Hardcastle, Book 2

Spring, 1909, and Lady Hardcastle, amateur sleuth and all-round eccentric, is enjoying a well-deserved rest. But a week after a trip to the cattle market, Spencer Caradine, a local farmer, turns up dead in the pub, face-down in his beef and mushroom pie. Once again, it is up to Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, to solve the case.

The House Sitter: Peter Diamond, Book 8

The corpse of a beautiful woman, clad in only a bathing suit, is found strangled to death on a popular Sussex beach. When she is finally identified, it turns out she was a top profiler for the National Crime Faculty who was working on the case of a serial killer. And though she was a Bath resident, the authorities don't want Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond to investigate the murder. How strange. What could they be trying to hide?

A Study in Scarlet Women: The Lady Sherlock Series, Book 1

With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper-class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name.

The Grave Maurice: Richard Jury, Book 18

"Chew on this," says Melrose Plant to Richard Jury. Plant tells Jury of something he overheard in The Grave Maurice, a pub near the hospital. A woman told an intriguing story about a girl named Nell Ryder, granddaughter to the owner of the Ryder Stud Farm in Cambridgeshire, who went missing more than a year before and has never been found. What is especially interesting to Plant is that Nell is also the daughter of Jury's surgeon. But Nell's disappearance isn't the only mystery at the Ryder farm.

A Man of Some Repute: A Very English Mystery, Book 1

Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past. Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.

Masked Ball at Broxley Manor: A Royal Spyness Novella

At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.

Precious and Grace: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Book 17

Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective, is a little short on help. The codirector of the agency, Grace Makutsi, is busy with her own case, her client none other than their erstwhile assistant, Mr. Polopetsi, who has unwittingly involved himself in a pyramid scheme. The agency's other assistant, Charlie, may also need more help than he can offer, as he is newly embroiled in a romance with a glamorous woman about whom the others have their doubts.

Still Life: Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

The Trespasser: A Novel

Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.

Mary Russell's War: And Other Stories of Suspense

In nine short stories, seven of which have never previously been available in print, and one brand-new, never-before-seen Sherlock Holmes mystery - available together for the first time - Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand.

The Secrets of Wishtide

Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged 52, is the widow of an archdeacon who makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator. Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in nearby Highgate with his wife and 10 children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When a case arises involving the son of the highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire undercover as the family's new governess.

A Curious Beginning

As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry - and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs isn't just any young housemaid. Through her own natural intelligence - and the patronage of her benevolent employers - she works her way into college at Cambridge. After the War I and her service as a nurse, Maisie hangs out her shingle back at home: M. DOBBS, TRADE AND PERSONAL INVESTIGATIONS. But her very first assignment soon reveals a much deeper, darker web of secrets, which will force Maisie to revisit the horrors of the Great War and the love she left behind.

A Most Novel Revenge: A Mystery

Amory and Milo plan to quietly winter in Italy. But Amory receives an urgent summons to the English countryside. There, Amory and Milo are surprised to discover a group of guests have been invited, led by socialite Isobel Van Allen. Isobel has returned to England after years of social exile to write a sequel to her scandalous first book. Her second incriminating volume, she warns the house's occupants - all of whom were present when one of their companions was killed years ago - will tell everything that really happened that fateful night.

White Christmas with a Wobbly Knee: The Belchester Chronicles, Book 2

The second in the series featuring a madcap pair of amateur sleuths and a delightful outpouring of upper-class English eccentricities - with the odd murder thrown in. Lady Amanda Golightly, eccentric resident of the sprawling Belchester Towers, has a new venture: guided tours. To celebrate she invites a horde of old chums to a trial run at Christmas, complete with tasty nibbles. However, things don't go to plan - a dead guest is discovered slumped on the library table.

Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel

Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.

Publisher's Summary

From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as "one of the most remarkable creations in recent literature".

Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether they’re found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her insufferable sisters’ diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the 500th anniversary of St. Tancred’s death, the English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey is busily preparing to open its patron saint’s tomb. Nobody is more excited to peek inside the crypt than Flavia, yet what she finds will halt the proceedings dead in their tracks: the body of Mr. Collicutt, the church organist, his face grotesquely and inexplicably masked.

Who held a vendetta against Mr. Collicutt, and why would they hide him in such a sacred resting place? The irrepressible Flavia decides to find out. And what she unearths will prove there’s never such thing as an open-and-shut case.

a terrific listen. Flavia gets embroiled in another murder and gets to use her unstoppable curiosity to solve it. In this entry in the series we learn more about her mother, about her family and of course about Flavia herself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Speaking from Among the Bones?

love the chemistry lessons too.

Have you listened to any of Jayne Entwistle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Jayne Entwistle's performance is just as good as the novel and she continues to delight.

Flavia enchants. Her precocious wit and wisdom continue to fascinate me. Her exceptional knowledge of practical chemistry surprises as always. Her quirky English village family delivers characters with depth. I am looking forward to the next addition to the series. I continue to encourage readers of every age to enjoy these books. Start at the beginning so you don't miss anything and you like me will be anxious for the next entry. I hop it is t=not the end.

I was sooooo skeptical about the first Flavia de Luce - Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I got it on Sale and because it was recommended and the reviews were great. For the first one it took a couple tries to really get into it. I cannot remember why now, but it didn't take long and I was back to buy the rest and wait for more!

I'm still waiting, now for the 6th Flavia de Luce! I even went to Amazon to see if a paper version of the next in the series was available, but Audible kept up with the printed version - this is the latest! I'd rather Jane Enwistle reads it anyway - can't imagine anyone else narrating these books, she is perfect. Flavia is maturing. As any 11 year old would be. She did fabulous, again. There is a cliff hanger at the end of this book, not what you think the ending will be. I wasn't totally surprised by it, the content, as I think somehow Mr. Bradley put something in previous book(s) that very subtely puts the idea into the listeners (readers) mind. No spoiler alerts. As for the cast of characters. I enjoyed them, but for a while I was sort of wondering why we had to know anything about them, things didn't seem to connect - but Mr. Bradley and Flavia tie everything together for a satisfying conclusion! Well done and well read.

Flavia and Gladys are, as usual, all around the village and in the "know". There are more details to everyone's story that are shared with us, i.e. about the Vicar and his wife and others. There is a body, multiple "suspects", organ pipes, jewels, lessons in nature and poisons, etc.

What's not to love about Flavia De Luce? Even her bicycle has a name! And I do believe that the best way to enjoy her is to listen to Jayne Entwistle read Alan Bradley's excellent mystery series. This one, brings our heroine and her quirky family to a perilous impass and leaves them clinging cliffside, but not before our fearless 12 year old has solved another gruesome village murder. While you will enjoy this book on its own, it is much better in the context of the series so I recommend you read them all . . .no, better yet, listen to them, because Jayne Entwistle gives Flavia such a wonderful voice it makes me smile just to hear her.

I've read several Flavia de Luce novels, but I think they work better as audio. This one was grand fun with a very surprising ending or, perhaps I should say endings. Bradley does a fine job of capturing the very precious Flavia, and several times I laughed out loud.

Where does Speaking from Among the Bones rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Loved the book. Only draw back, Flavia crawling around in tight spaces is reminiscent of her being trapped in book two. The last line of the book is mind stopping, suprising, and makes me want to read another book.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Jayne Entwistle?

A little sharp.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Would you consider the audio edition of Speaking from Among the Bones to be better than the print version?

Jayne Entwistle does a fantastic job with the Flavia de Luce series. Both print and audible are great because I'd hate to see Indie bookstores go out of business so I purchase both and read along.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Oh to be twelve years old again! Little Flavia solves murder mysteries around her crumbling Buckshaw estate. She has a passion for chemistry and uses that to help the town Inspector and his men to get to the bottom of each crime.

Have you listened to any of Jayne Entwistle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Entwistle rocks! I love how you can "hear" the smile in her voice. She's absolutely perfect for this series!